Students compete in the CAO points race, then race against college fees but they will be racing in a more healthy sense when the third annual Rás UCD 5K Road Race starts at 12.00pm on Saturday February 25th at University College Dublin.

The race is open to everyone and all entry fees will be donated to UCD Volunteers Overseas. There is a large prize fund, and all athletes will be chipped timed on what promises to be a fast flat course.

All participants receive goody bags and souvenir t-shirts.   Sandwiches and tea and coffee are provided after the race. There are even physiotherapists on hand to give you a well deserved massage! Individual age categories include u20's, senior (between 20 and 40), over 40's, 50's and 60's. There is team prizes as-well as a prize for best fancy dress.

 

Students have made the headlines recently protesting about college fees but with pre registration for Ras UCD only €10 for students and €15 for members of the public, you will certainly get your money’s worth. Every penny raised goes directly to UCDVO projects which will see approximately 100 students work for on average one month in developing countries during their summer holidays.

Ras UCD is a unique bilingual event held on UCD campus. Some inter-college rivalry is expected this year. UCD men (Richard Owens, Dan King, Joe Sweeney, Cian O’Reilly and Timothee Franc) were recently crowned IUAA road relay champions. Will DCU pay a visit and attempt to shake up what is set to be a competitive race? You can be sure there will be a Colours rematch with some Trinity guests also!

Ras UCD was founded by UCD Medical student Donal Hanratty who runs for Tara AC. Donal lived on the Sceim Conaithe in UCD and was actively involved in UCD Athletics Club and UCD Volunteers Overseas. He volunteered twice in India, including returning as a student leader and organizing an AIDS awareness rally that made Indian media. Following the success of the first Ras, college groups have got more involved and now a committee consisting of students and staff of varying disciplines has regular meetings to make this year’s Ras an event UCD can be very proud to host. In the past two years over 800 participants have helped raise almost E10,000 for UCDVO. The 2010 Ras committee chairperson Tim Grummell, an engineering PhD student who runs for Inbhear Dee AC has kept on the role this year and recently put his theory into practice volunteering in Haiti.

UCD is also very proud of the wealth of athletic talent amongst its students including Olympic hopefuls Ciara Mageean and David Campbell, athletics scholars Ciara Everard and Ellie Hartnett, National Cross Country Champion Joe Sweeney. Let us not forget our alumni Deirdre Ryan – recently named Athletics Ireland Athlete of the Year, Golden Girl Derval O’ Rourke and Olympian James Nolan who is actively involved coaching the current crop of middle distance athletes in the college while fulfilling his role with the Paralympics team.

UCD Volunteers Overseas is a charitable organization offering students, staff and alumni of University College Dublin the opportunity to contribute their time, energy and skills to development projects overseas. The charity was founded by Fr. Tony Coote (former UCD Chaplain) in 2003 and projects have been taking place every year since then. We currently run projects in India, Haiti, Nicaragua and Tanzania, where volunteers collaborate with local communities on small-scale development projects in response to local needs. Some examples of our work include the Health Centers built in Nicaragua 2007 & 2008; summer camps in Haiti 2005-2011; physiotherapy support in the Mother Teresa Home, Delhi 2003-2011; and computer education programs in Tanzania 2009-2011.

The event website is www.rasucd.ie and you can email rasucd@ucd.ie for further information.

If you would like to find out more about UCDVO, please visit www.ucdvo.org and join our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/ucdvo.